Introduction
The German musicologist Carl Dahlhaus once wrote, "The heyday of virtuosity began with Paganini's tours of the European capitals in the early 1830s and ended in September 1847 when Liszt abandoned his career as a pianist." Thus, it is not surprising for Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu to remark after listening to the concerto during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976): "How could a nation as great as China come up with a composition as such!" The concerto, being a collective composition characteristic of Chinese Socialism, was also ridiculed on the record cover of the Philadelphia Orchestra recording, which said that it was written by various composers including Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, and Rachmaninov. Yet, the Yellow River Piano Concerto stands aloof with its historical, political and economical significance in 20th century Chinese music history.
Read more about this topic: Yellow River Piano Concerto
Famous quotes containing the word introduction:
“For the introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state; since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)
“We used chamber-pots a good deal.... My mother ... loved to repeat: “When did the queen reign over China?” This whimsical and harmless scatological pun was my first introduction to the wonderful world of verbal transformations, and also a first perception that a joke need not be funny to give pleasure.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“Such is oftenest the young man’s introduction to the forest, and the most original part of himself. He goes thither at first as a hunter and fisher, until at last, if he has the seeds of a better life in him, he distinguishes his proper objects, as a poet or naturalist it may be, and leaves the gun and fish-pole behind. The mass of men are still and always young in this respect.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)